Community Chat

[grandma2pkmh]

@Plaid Pants2 By using the Find A Grave web site, I found out my 5 times great grandfather on my Dad's side was a Cherokee Indian. There was an obit posted by another relative.

[RedTop]

An ancestor on my fathers side was a caretaker for General Robert E. Lee's horse during the war.  

[goldensrbest]

It was very common for children of farmers to only go to 8th grade back then . I have some histoy of both sides ,but on my dads side ,there was american Indian, but even went out to salt lake to find out more ,just not many records on the indians.

[maestra]

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

Sometimes I like to delve in to the records that are available on line when I do geneology research, and I like stumbling across little nuggets of information that I didn't know before.

For example, my paternal grandfather only went as far as the 7th grade.

Which makes sense, because his father was a farmer, and I figure that granddad dropped out of school to help out on the family farm.

I mean, they probably thought that he knew all that he would need to know to do that.

He knew how to read, write and basic math. 

Yet, he ran away from home, because his father was so horrible to him, to join WW1, and he served from 1912 - 1919.

My granddad then went on to become a fireman.

He was not affectionate towards my dad, but the way that I figure it is, he probably thought that by being a good provider, he was being a good father.

It never occured to my granddad to do better by my father, than his own dad did to him.

Any interesting stories that you have come across in your family tree?

Geneology can be so facinating!

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My great grandfather Alexander was a very tall young boy/man for his age and the time, so even as a farm boy in Vermont he looked older than he was. Well, recruiters were going through his area for the Union Army and he volunteered at 14.

His parents were horrified to learn that not only did he have to serve, the only way out was for a family member to take his place, which was his 16 yr. old brother, Michael.

Michael survived his service with the Union Army!

One of my favorite photos is of Michael and his wife Bessie marching in the 1930 Veteran's Day Parade in NYC. He was representing those who had served in the War Between the States. He was about 85 years or so at the time of the photo.

[Drythe]

About 20% of my family came from Scotland either right before, or as soon as they could after the Rising. 

They settled in the mountains of NC because the geography reminded them of home.  Everyone I've been able to trace fought against England in the Revolutionary war- for obvious reasions.

Because it was home, most made their way to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse where the war in essence was ended.  Many of their signatures are on the battle rolls there, including that of one of my great, greats who was only 15 years old!

[Gardengal55]

My late mother traced her family's geneology many years ago.  She was Scotch/Irish and was proud of her membership in the DAR.  She traced her line back to an ancestor that came to America around 1700 and settled in Pennsylvania. A descendant of his fought in the American revolution.  We visit his gravesite every now and then.  The head stone is completely smooth by now.  Luckily we took photos over the years and took a tracing of the engraving.  My mother also researched her family coat of arms and hung the plaque on the livingroom wall.

[Gooday]

My maternal grandparents were Sicilian immigrants. My grandfather was born in 1897 and came here as a young teen.  He came in through the port of New Orleans. His half-sister lived in N.O.  My grandmother was born in 1901 and came as a child through Ellis Island to Trinidad, Co. where my GG grandfather worked with other immigrants to work the mines in Colorado.  He later opened up a produce market but those were tumultous times with laborers trying to organize and form unions.  Both grandparents ended up in Chicago where my grandparents married and produced my mom and 3 siblings.  They were poor but managed to eeck out a decent living, both having  jobs and owning property...all on their own.

My paternal grandfather was born in 1903 in Chelmsford, England and stowed away on a ship to Canada at age 17.  His parents eventually came to Toronto with their other 5 children where my GGrandfather passed away from pneumonia in his late 30's.  My GGrandmother (who died when I was 10) remarried a man who worked for the Pullman railroad and he brought them to Chicago.  My grandmother was born in 1908 in Herron, Il of a German father and a woman who died in childbirth with my great aunt.  Her ancestry is questionable.  I knew my GGrandfather well and he died when I was 16.  People married young in those days.  I do know my GGrandfather's parents placed him and his 2 sisters in an orphanage in Wisconsin where many German people lived. It was in Racine, Wisconsin.  He somehow ended up in Chicago after my GGrandmother died in Herron, Il.  He then buried 2 more wives, both of who treated my grandmother horribly.

There you have it folks. No royalty, no money, no DAR.  My Sicilian grandparents experienced prejudice first hand as did the Irish before them.Just typical, classic immigrants stories who had the fortitude and where-with-all to leave all that they knew for a better life.  No handouts, 2 who had to learn the language and work hard.